Loyalty is a Double Edged Sword
One of my favorite things to do is to use multiple decks to evolve the threads of intuition. This week I started with my newly procured Angels and Ancestors Oracle Deck, and the image of the Shield Maiden. I haven’t looked up the meaning in the guidebook yet. I’m going to listen to her first. She is telling me to focus and plan carefully. Keep my sword at the ready but also my shield.
Next I pulled three cards from my Animal Totems and I Ching deck. The Card of Loyalty (Dog). Dedication, Enthusiasm Support. The corresponding I Ching Hexagram to this is 16 – Enthusiasm and talks about obedience and devotion obtained from forming an enthusiastic army.
The overall theme from this reading is the responsibility of loyalty once you have been given it from your team, and what you have a duty to do with that loyalty to make sure you are acting in the best interest of the community/team/family/yourself.
The other two cards from the Animal Totem deck were #56 (The wanderer – Distraction – Opossum – Theatrics). And #57 (The Gentle – Pursuit – Moth – Intuition/Insight). I felt that these two cards represented two different ways to treat loyalty – a healthy option and an unhealthy option. I also drew two cards from the Osho Zen tarot to augment these two choices – Sharing (Queen of Fire) and Clinging to Past (5 of water).
One way to treat loyalty is to take it for granted and continue to tie it to past events. This is a distraction and amounts to posturing. It does not respect the loyalty you have earned. It also traps yourself and your team/community/family in a box from the past instead of seeing what choices need to be made in the future. Focus on the past will not result in a positive outcome. While we should celebrate and reflect on the reasons we have formed a team or community we also have a responsibility to move forward with focus and determination. We can then put into place ideas and actions that move the team forward. Especially if we are the leader of that team or community.
Staying in and clinging to a box from the past is not loyalty – its unhealthy attachement. And there is no greater distraction from connecting with the present moment.
Instead we can share our gifts of intuition, and use insight to decide how to move the team/community/relationship forward. Loyalty is a gift, not a shackle. You can be a strong leader and still be gentle, transparent with your reasoning behind decisions, and share the rewards of any accomplishments. This is the message of the Queen of Fire – to give back freely.
And this stoking of the creative fires of the team through generosity is likely to result in even greater enthusiasm and loyalty, and a better result using the encouragement of the creative collective energy of the team.
The Rambling Locksmith 
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